March 7, 2003
Brought to you by Idealsafe at 402-474-4166.
Email: psc@psccorp.com
It’s reported that the recently apprehended Khalid Mohammad (Al-Qaeda terrorist
mastermind) may have had plans to use trucks, or at least explored the use of
trucks, for other large-scale terrorist activities in the U.S. In fact, the American
Trucking Association Wednesday alerted truck drivers enrolled in their Highway
Watch program to be especially vigilant now, because of this new information.
Today would be a good time to remind drivers to take all security precautions.
Driver Qualification,
Annual Reviews
The often misunderstood rule requiring
that a carrier review the driving records
of all drivers at least once every 12
months involves more that simply
obtaining the drivers’ motor vehicle
records. While section 391.25 does
require that carriers obtain the MVR, it
also requires that the carrier review the
drivers entire record of driving and
determine whether the driver still meets
the requirements for safe driving. The
carrier must also note, in the driver
qualification file that the annual review
was completed including the name of
the person who performed the review
and the date of the review. In addition,
the driver must submit a list of any
citations he received during the
previous 12 months and sign and date
this list, sometimes referred to as the
annual “certificate of violations”. The
following are official guidance offered
by the FMCSA, regarding the annual
review requirements:
Question 1: To what extent must a
motor carrier review a driver's overall
driving record to comply with the
requirements of §391.25?
Guidance: The motor carrier must
consider as much information about the
driver's experience as is reasonably
available. This would include all known
violations, whether or not they are part
of an official record maintained by a
State, as well as any other information
that would indicate the driver has
shown a lack of due regard for the
safety of the public. Violations of traffic
and criminal laws, as well as the
driver's involvement in motor vehicle
accidents, are such indications and
must be considered. A violation of size
and weight
considered.
laws
should
also
be
Question 2: Is a driver service or
leasing company that is not a motor
carrier permitted to perform annual
reviews of driving records on the drivers
it furnishes to motor carriers?
Guidance: The driver service or
leasing company may perform annual
reviews if designated by a motor carrier
to do so.
Question 3: May motor carriers use
third parties to ask State agencies for
copies of driving records to be
examined during the carrier's annual
review of each driver's record?
Guidance: Yes.
Although an
examination of the official driving record
maintained by the State is not required
during the annual review, motor carriers
that choose to do so may use thirdparty agents, such as driver information
services or companies, to obtain the
information. However, the motor carrier
is responsible for ensuring the
information is accurate.
Motor Carrier Safety
Rating Factors (§385.7)
The factors to be considered in
determining
safety
fitness
and
assigning a safety rating include
information from safety reviews,
compliance reviews and any other data.
The factors may include all or some of
the following:
(a) Adequacy of safety management
controls. The adequacy of controls
may be questioned if their degree of
formalization, automation, etc., is found
to be substantially below the norm for
similar carriers. Violations, accidents or
incidents substantially above the norm
for similar carriers will be strong
evidence that management controls are
either inadequate or not functioning
properly.
(b) Frequency and
regulatory violations.
severity
of
(c) Frequency and severity of
driver/vehicle
regulatory
violations
identified in roadside inspections.
(d)
Number
and
frequency of
driver/vehicle out-of-service violations.
(e) Increase or decrease in similar
types
of
regulatory
violations
discovered during safety or compliance
reviews.
(f) Frequency of accidents; hazardous
materials incidents; accident rate per
million
miles;
preventable
accident rate per million miles;
and other accident indicators;
and whether these accident
We should see a proposal from the Federal
and incident indicators have
Motor Carrier Safety Administration soon
improved or deteriorated over
regarding changes in the hours of service
time.
rules. The newest revision is overdue and is
now set to come out in “early 2003”, which is
(g) The number and severity of
here! We would expect that proposal to be
violations of state safety rules,
published within the next 6 weeks, if not
regulations, standards, and
sooner. Also in the works are minimum
orders
applicable
to
training requirements for LC vehicles and
commercial motor vehicles and
entry-level drivers, but those may still be
motor carrier safety that are
delayed.
Drug and alcohol testing rates
compatible with Federal rules,
remain the same for 2003, at 50% for drugs
regulations, standards, and
and 10% for alcohol (random testing) per year.
orders.
This publication is provided for information purposes only and is not intended as a complete or exhaustive source of compliance or safety information. This “Safety
Brief” is advisory in nature and does not warrant, guarantee, or otherwise certify compliance with laws, regulations, requirements, or guidelines of any local, state, or
Federal agency and/or governing body, or industry standards.